NFL Draft Looking At Other Cities for the Future: Why Not LA?

The NFL Draft has been a Radio City Music Hall staple since 2006, a festive, three-day event in which New York City becomes the center of the football universe for one weekend in April.

All that could change as the NFL discusses ways in which to change the way in which the draft is conducted. While there is no talk about adding or subtracting rounds, the possibility of moving the draft to other cities and other venues in the future has been discussed.

The fact that the NFL Draft apparently isn’t big enough for the Music Hall to accommodate its time table, and the fact that the NFL hasn’t sought another venue is quite shocking, considering the revenues and hype the draft generates every year. It may be for this reason then that the NFL is talking about making changes for the 2015 draft.

Of course, if the NFL chooses a different city, a question it should be asking itself is this: Why not Los Angeles?

Los Angeles hasn’t had an NFL team in 19 seasons. Any child born after the end of the 1994 season never had an opportunity to experience the Rams or Raiders at the Coliseum or the Rams at Anaheim Stadium. The second largest media market in the country has had a hard time getting a jump-start on building an appropriate, modern stadium and getting a team. The Coliseum and the Rose Bowl both are outdated. Anaheim Stadium has been converted into a baseball-only park again.

Dodger Stadium in a slight reconfiguration could make an interesting alternative venue, but again, its baseball-driven design and the fact that Walter O’Malley’s plans to allow the park to be expandable to 85,000 seats through enclosure never came to fruition and would make for a venue similar to bowl games held at AT&T Park in San Francisco: the surface can support the playing field, the stadium has the luxury boxes needed for high-revenue generation, but from above it just looks awkward. However, the plans to build Farmer’s Field near L.A. Live and Staples Center and Los Angeles Stadium in Industry have remained pipe dreams, and the NFL has no significant presence in the city to fuel fan enthusiasm.

A move by the draft to Los Angeles, even for one year, could signal a change in the wind. It would be the league saying “we miss L.A. L.A. is important to us. We want to be here. We want to have a team here. We want to build a stadium here and we are committed to putting our money where our mouth is about making it happen.” They could even host it in the north hall of the Convention Center and say “we’re going to make sure it gets built, and it’s going to be built right here, and it’s going to be beautiful. We’re going to bring in the bulldozers as soon as Mr. Irrelevant has been picked, tear this place down, and break ground on bringing the league back to this city.”

Changes in the NFL Draft could add more excitement and give fans all over the country to get a more in-depth look at this process. It could also be used to bring the NFL to cities where it feels there is a need to generate excitement about the league and its teams. Whether or not the NFL moves from New York, the Draft has become the most anticipated, talked-about event of the off-season, and it’s guaranteed to make a big splash wherever it goes.

Be sure to "Like" NFL Draft Insiders on Facebook to keep up with the latest coverage on college football, the NFL and more!

Comments

March 9, 2015 (the last mock before the official beginning of free agency)FIRST ROUND1. Tampa Bay - QB Jameis Winston, Florida State *RED FLAG*I give up. Personally, I still have doubts about Jameis Winston&#8217;s honor, but he seems to have convinced the talent evaluators that he&#821...

Latest on FanVsFan

It only seems like a month ago that NASCAR made the trip to the Pocono Mountains, taking to the track with three turns and three straightaways, with the one out front being the longest of any track on the circuit. Wait...they were.Of all the tracks that host two Sprint Cup events on the season, Pocono has historically been the one with the shor...